


Tanabata

by Selah



Series: Matteiru Kara [6]
Category: Danger Gang, Jrock, NCIS, Overwatch (Video Game), Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Gen, Homophobia, Ladies Bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-23 12:38:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17683622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selah/pseuds/Selah
Summary: An invitation from her soulmate? What else could she do but say yes? Miko counted down the days, anxious and nervous and excited all at once.





	Tanabata

**Author's Note:**

> written for the Festivals and Celebrations square of my Ladies Bingo card. In which Miko's friends show their shitty true colors.

Miko pressed a hand over her twisting stomach, trying to will it to calm itself. It wasn't working.

“You're being ridiculous,” she told it in a low mumble, turning to study herself in her mirror again.

It wasn't like this was even their first date. And yet going to Sendai for Tanabata together, even though it was just a day trip, somehow felt like so much more. After all, Tanabata was all about soulmates, especially those who had to face challenges to their destiny. And if more than ten years' age difference didn't count as a challenge, Miko didn't know what did.

“Miko-chan! Your soulmate's here!”

Miko winced in spite of herself. She was so grateful her mother hadn't so much as batted an eye at Rei being Miko's soulmate, but sometimes she worried her mother was a little _too_ at ease with it. As much as the acceptance was preferable to the alternative, she couldn't help worrying that the other shoe was bound to drop eventually. Still, this was hard the time to be dwelling on that. Checking her reflection one last time, she grabbed the small purse that matched her obi and dashed downstairs as best she could.

Rei was also in yukata, a slightly darker, bluer grey than the one Miko was wearing, decorated with purple butterflies and wind swirls and tied with a pale creamy yellow obi. With her hair pinned up in a fall of loose brown and blond curls, Rei was beautiful enough to stop the breath in Miko's lungs for a moment.

“Oh good, it came in time,” Rei said, gesturing to the yukata set. Miko couldn't help blushing again, reflexively smoothing wrinkles that weren't even there.

“It did, yes. You really didn't have to....”

“Well, your birthday isn't until December, so now seemed like a good excuse to buy you something nice,” Rei said with a half shrug, though the way her lips twitched betrayed the casualness of her tone. “Ready to go?”

Miko nodded, turning to give her mother a quick hug before slipping into her zori.

“You girls be careful now. And I expect you to have this one home by midnight, Rei-san!”

“I don't know if I can promise that, Kusanagi-kaasan,” Rei said with faked solemnity that was enough to make Miko bite her lip to keep from giggling. “We have to stay for the fireworks before we can drive back, after all.”

“Cheek!” Miko's mother said, but she was smiling. “Have fun, dears.”

Silently, Miko told her stomach to stop fluttering as she followed Rei out to her cat. They had a whole day together ahead of them, this was no time to be getting nervous jitters. Or worse.

“It's okay to be nervous, you know,” Rei said, brushing a quick kiss to Miko's cheek. “We don't have to go to Sendai if you'd rather not. Obon's in another week, if you'd rather wait.”

“N-no, no, I ... I'm fine, honest,” she said, worried her smile was too thin. “I've been looking forward to this all week; that's probably why I didn't sleep very well last night. I'll be fine, honest.”

Rei studied her rather intently for a moment, then nodded.

“All right then, if you're sure. But I hope you know I'm not letting you pay for anything today.”

“R-rei!”

“Nope. Day-long date? Definitely my treat,” her soulmate said with a firm nod.

Miko tried pouting at her, but it was quickly apparent that it wasn't doing any good, so she gave up with a sigh. Rei was treating her far more than she let Miko buy her anything. For now, Miko was mostly content with pouting at her soulmate about it, being a poor college student herself, but someday.... Someday Miko would repay Rei tenfold for all the kindnesses she had shown. Somehow.

~*~*~

Rei was glad for her uchiwa, hiding a grin behind it as she watched Miko's eyes light up with wonder.

“I take it you've never been to Sendai for Tanabata before?” she asked, chuckling a little.

“Never,” Miko agreed with a little shake of her head. “Never really seemed to be any point. I mean, Tanabata is for soulmates, ne?”

“I suppose I can see why someone might think that,” Rei said, nodding. “I guess I always looked at it as Tanabata is about celebrating love and that's something anyone can relate to, so....”

Miko hesitated a moment, then scooted closer, tucking an arm through Rei's.

“Sorry,” the young woman mumbled.

“For what?” Rei asked, startled at the apology.

But Miko just shook her head and Rei had to throttle the urge to hunt down all the people that had so beaten down her soulmate in the past to make her this passive and mincing. For one thing, she probably didn't have the physical prowess to do it. For another, it wouldn't really do any good, aside from momentarily making _her_ feel better.

“Let's go make our wishes and then see what the street vendors have for food, okay?” Rei suggested, choking back another sigh at Miko's meek agreement.

Intellectually, she knew the only way to “fix” this was with time, but a part of her still itched to do something more proactive. Like suggesting Miko stay with her for the rest of the teen's summer holiday. Sure, they were soulmates, but there was still such a thing as moving things too fast. And the last thing Rei wanted to do was scare her soulmate into running away from what they were trying to build.

Rei had to admit she thought it was cute the way Miko wouldn't show her what she had written for her wish. Of course that just made her all the more curious, but it wasn't like she _had_ to know. But oh the curiosity!

“Nooooo,” Miko giggle-whined, wiggling away from tickling fingers. “If I tell you, it'll break the magic!!”

“All right, all right,” Rei conceded, dropping her hands back to her sides. “Hungry?”

“Thirsty mostly,” her soulmate replied, fussing with her yukata a bit. “And hot. Can we get some shaved ice?”

“You didn't bring a fan with you? But yes, I think we can manage that.”

Another cute blush and a mumble Rei didn't entirely catch. Smiling, she caught Miko's hand and, ignoring the way her soulmate blushed, tugged her towards the food carts outside the shrine until she found one selling shaved ice. Lemonade for Miko and lychee for herself. Rei didn't really have a plan for the rest of the afternoon, other than walking around the festival until sundown and then watching the fireworks together. Between the decorations and the arcade games, she was mostly sure they could stay entertained that long without trouble. If all else failed, she could find an uchiwa vendor, buy one for Miko, and then the two of them could sit under a tree and just watch the festivities for awhile.

~*~*~

Miko hadn't really thought about how they would spend the day together, figuring Rei would have a plan. She wasn't sure if the hot streak with the arcade games had been a plan so much as just good fortune, but she wasn't complaining either. It was maybe a little hot to have to be carrying around a purple My Melody plush bigger than her head, but after all of Rei's hard work in winning it for her, there was no way Miko was going to risk losing it. Even if it made nibbling on the street snacks Rei kept buying a little tricky at times.

As evening closed in, Rei steered them over to a good spot for watching the sky, spreading out a blanket she had picked up somewhere.

“Hungry again yet?” Rei teased.

“You're just trying to make me fat!” she protested, half whining and playfully swatting her soulmate's shoulder. “I'll keep our place, just no more of that fried ... whatever it was we had after lunch.”

“Promise,” Rei laughed, throwing her a wink and a playful kiss.

Miko settled Melody as a backrest of sorts, watching the fading colors of the sky as she fanned herself and smiled. Another gift from Rei, since her soulmate had refused to let her pay for the uchiwa herself. Inasmuch as Miko had barely glanced at her phone all afternoon and hadn't been allowed to buy anything, a part of her was wondering why she had even bothered with the purse still hanging from her wrist. Of course the answer to that was simple: the purse had come as part of the yukata se Rei had gifted her, to leave it behind might have been seen as an insult. That and she hadn't actually expected Rei to be consistently insisting on paying for everything. As much as it nagged at her sense of fairness, there was another part of her that was enjoying being spoiled like this. Sure, it could be a little intimidating, too, the casual way Rei spent money on her as if the yen didn't mean anything, but it was also ... nice. Both to think her soulmate already thought Miko was worth it and the suggestion that Rei was well enough settled in her life that the yen really _didn't_ mean anything. Much preferable to the way her own mother would frown and pinch every yen every way possible.

“Miko-chan?”

Miko looked up, startled to see Abby standing at the edge of the blanket with Saki, Mei, and a couple other girls she didn't immediately recognize.

“Oh, hey Bi-chan,” she said, unable to stop a nervous chuckle. “I didn't think I'd see any of you guys here.”

“It was Abby-chan's idea,” Saki said with a little laugh. “You could have said you wanted to come, too, you know. We could have ridden the train together!”

“Oh, um, actually....”

“Really, Saki-chan,” one of the other girls said, “obviously she's here with someone special!”

Miko felt like everyone was staring at her now. Everyone except Abby, who already knew Miko had met her soulmate before the summer break. It wasn't like she had been actively keeping Rei a secret from everyone, exactly, just ... she hadn't figured out how to explain things to everyone. She still hadn't, not sure she wanted to confess to having a same-sex soulmate in front of people she didn't even know well enough to remember their names.

And then the choice was taken out of her hands.

“Sweetheart?”

Miko watched the surprise and flickers of confusion on the faces of her friends. Well, other than Abby, who looked positively ecstatic instead and, at least to Miko, who knew her so well, like she was doing everything she could to keep herself from grabbing the woman in an overly enthusiastic American-style hug. A restraint that Miko was especially grateful for at the moment. Well, she might as well just go all in with it now. Standing up and smoothing her yukata, she then turned and brushed a kiss to Rei's cheek.

“Hey, so, um, sorry, some friends from school sorta found me by accident,” she half-mumbled, glancing back at the other girls. One of the ones she couldn't name was already trying to tug Saki away, though her friend wasn't leaving that easily, at least not yet.

“Everyone, this is my soulmate, Ota Reinako-sensei. Rei, these are –.”

“Don't be stupid, two women can't be soulmates! Saki, come _on_!”

“Reno!” Saki protested, though not hard enough that she didn't let herself be dragged away. Mei flashed an apologetic look in Miko's direction but then she, too, was leaving.

“Some friends,” Rei murmured, shifting the carry out bag to her other hand as she moved closer to Miko's side.

“Forget about them,” Abby grumbled before lighting up again and bowing to Rei. “Pleasure to meet you, sensei. I'm Abigail Scuito and this is my friend Song Hana. And I have to warn you, if you break Miko-chan's heart, I'll have to do something terrible. And I'm studying forensics, so I'd know how to do it without anyone ever figuring it out!”

“Abby!” the other girl, Hana, said, swatting the tall goth but laughing at the same time. “Please don't mind her, sensei. You know how Americans are.”

“Hey, after that bullshit, can you blame me?!” Abby protested, throwing a wild gesture at their missing friends. “Miko-chan's been my best friend since I got here! And to have our supposed friends act like that ... it's embarrassing and wrong!”

“It's all right,” Rei said, braving Abby's wild energy to brush a hand to her arm. “I'm actually a little relieved, to be honest. Did you ... would you like to join us? If it's all right with you, honey, of course.”

“Of course,” Miko said, flashing Rei a grateful look before dropping back down to their blanket. She watched, a little surprised, as Hana and Abby traded a few phrases of English before Abby sat down as well while the other girl headed back towards the food vendors.

“Bi-chan?”

“We were just about to get something to eat before Saki-chan saw you, that's all,” her friend explained with a grin and a shrug.

“So I take it you're Miko-chan's roommate at Todai?” Rei asked.

“Yeah, that's why I, uh, already knew who you were,” Abby agreed with a surprisingly shy smile. “They all came because of me, you know. I ... I'm really sorry, Miko-chan.”

“No, it's –.”

“Don't you _dare_ apologize or make excuses for their shitty actions!” Abby interrupted firmly. “Especially not for someone like Reno-san, who has no business acting so superior when she can't even see color anyway!”

“Abby!”

“I'm afraid I have to agree with your roommate, honey,” Rei added, brushing a kiss to Miko's cheek. “Though I suppose at least now you know who your real friends are.”

“Mei-chan might come around,” Abby said, glancing over her shoulder even though the group was long gone now. “But even if she doesn't, it's a big school in an even bigger city. We'll just make _new_ friends. Friends who aren't secretly closeted bigots.”

“In the meantime ... eat,” Rei suggested, handing her an unwrapped onigiri. “And don't worry about it any more tonight. We're here to enjoy ourselves, not worry about other people, yeah?”

“But –.”

“Sensei's right, no buts,” Abby agreed nodding. “Fireworks should start before too much longer, too, right?”

“Probably,” Rei agreed, nodding and smiling when Hana rejoined their group. Miko took a deep breath and forced herself to smile as well. As much as it hurt to admit, her soulmate had a point – at least now she knew who were her real friends. It hurt that Saki and Mei, women she had thought of as close friends since junior high, would walk away from her so easily on the say-so of someone Miko didn't even _know_ , but it was what it was. And she wasn't going to give some unknown tart a victory she didn't deserve by letting closed-minded bigotry ruin her holiday. She would just make new friends.

“So, Hana-san, how do you know Bi-chan?”

Watching the Korean light up at the question, Miko had to admit, maybe making new friends wouldn't be as hard as she feared.


End file.
